Honduras: Uproar over armed forces firing (Updated)

Update (10:15pm):

Despite being ordered by the Supreme Court to restore the armed forces chief President Manuel Zelaya vowed to defy the tribunal's orders.

This is not good.

Original Post:

Earlier today we alluded to how the political situation has heated up over President Manuel Zelaya’s plans to reform the Honduran constitution. The situation came to a boil today with the firing and possible return of the armed forces head.

Four days before a constitutional referendum is to take place, Zelaya fired the armed forces chief and the Minister of Defense after both officials refused to back Zelaya. "There is a crisis generated by some sectors who have promoted destabilization and chaos with the intent of causing serious problems for democracy in Honduras," Zelaya said last night in a televised speech. In a move of solidarity the heads of the Army, Navy, and Air Force subsequently quit; thus leaving a crisis of power in the Central American country’s powerful armed forces.

Moments ago, however, the country’s top court intervened and ordered Zelaya to reinstate the armed forces head:

The Supreme Court reinstated Gen. Romeo Vasquez as head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff a day after Zelaya fired him for refusing to support Sunday's referendum, which is meant to measure voter support for possible constitution reforms.

Court President Jorge Rivera warned that if Zelaya does not honor the court ruling, "he will have to face penal consequences."'

The top court, Congress and the attorney general say the vote is illegal because it would violate constitutional clauses barring some reforms.

For his part, Vazquez said that he respected Zelaya’s decision though warned that the president is violating Honduran law.

The nonbinding referendum would ask voters if they want to move ahead and permit an assembly to make a new constitution.

Image- BBC News
Online Sources- Monsters & Critics, AP, CNN, BBC News

Ecuador to U.S. – No vacancy at Manta base

Ecuador’s government will official boot the U.S. military from using the Manta air base when its lease expires net year. Manta has served as the U.S. army’s lone South American military outpost chiefly for counternarcotics operations and has stationed over 300 soldiers.

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has long promised to remove the U.S. military from Manta and the country’s draft constitution even has an article prohibiting “foreign military bases or installations…on Ecuadorian soil. According to Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry, surveillance flights will end in August 2009 and troops will leave three months after that.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that the U.S. government would respect Ecuador’s decision but warned that the lack of a base would hinder counternarcotics efforts.

Will the U.S. try to find another large base in South America to replace the one at Manta? One senior Air Force official said in January that they would most likely try for “small, temporary, forward operating locations.” Yet that hasn’t stopped speculation that the U.S. military will establish a major outpost in Peru or Colombia.

Image- washingtonpost.com (“A US military plane lands at the US base airport in Manta, Ecuador, Friday, Dec. 14, 2006.”)

Sources- Al Jazeera English, earthtimes, Press TV, The Latin Americanist, BBC News, UPI,

U.S. plane crossed into Venezuela says gov’t

Venezuelan officials have claimed that a U.S. Navy aircraft crossed into its territory on Saturday. Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said today that he would ask for an explanation from the U.S. ambassador regarding the alleged incursion of the military plane into Venezuelan airspace in the Caribbean.

This incident occurs days after the Venezuelan government sent a note of protest over allegations that sixty Colombian troops illegally crossed the border. The Colombian government has denied that claim.

Sources- BBC News, New York Times, International Herald Tribune, El Universal

Image- CNN

Ecuador: My Manta base is (not) all right

(Sorry for the lame Pixies reference in the title).

A vote by Ecuador’s popular assembly put another nail in the coffin to the U.S. presence at the Manta air base. Legislators backed the proposal to as part of a series of constitutional amendments which could be approved by a referendum later this year.

The proposal’s text took aim at the U.S. whose base in Manta is key to counternarcotics operations and is the only foreign military facility in Ecuador:

The position has been understood and we ratify the lack of interest to renew in 2009 the 1999 controversial accord to use the southeastern Manta military base by US military forces," states the text.

"Ecuador is a peaceful territory. It does not allow the establishment of foreign military bases or foreign facilities with military purposes. We cannot give national military bases to foreign forces, and we close any actions destined to extend beyond next year the presence of Pentagon troops in this nation."

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has been adamant in his opposition to the U.S. base in Manta and has vowed to reject renewing the base’s lease which expires next year. As we noted in January, a senior U.S. official doubted that they would pursue building “another large base in the region” if they’re booted off of Manta.

Sources- Reuters, Chicago Tribune, BBC News, Prensa Latina, The Latin Americanist, Lyrics Depot

Image- Living in Peru (“A U.S. AWAKS surveillance plane taking off from the Manta base in Ecuador.”)

U.S. Army suicides keep rising

In a worrying trend, the rate of suicides by U.S. Army troops has risen over the past four years. Officials confirmed that last year 89 soldiers killed themselves though are 32 “suspected cases” of suicide within the ranks. In comparison, 60 soldiers committed suicide in 2003, 67 in 2003, and 83 in 2005.

Despite increasing efforts to treat affected soldiers, Army officials claim to be baffled by the increase in suicides:

“We have been perturbed by the rise despite all of our efforts,'' said Col. Elspeth Ritchie, psychiatry consultant to the Army surgeon general.

Those efforts include more training and education programs, the hiring of more mental health professionals and the addition of screening programs launched after a succession of studies found the military's peacetime health care system overwhelmed by troops coming home from the two foreign wars.

``We know we've been doing a lot of training and education,'' Ritchie told a Pentagon press conference. ``Clearly we need to be doing more.''

The increase in Army suicides coincides with a boost in recruitment efforts of Latinos into the armed forces. In 2004 Defense Department data showed that the recruitment of Latinos grew 15.2% while the number of new black and white recruits decreased by 7.6% and 4.6%, respectively.

The ability to make a career in the Army and the acceleration of the naturalization process for non-citizens in active duty has served as viable reasons to enter the armed forces. Yet more needs to be done to protect the lives of the rising numbers of Latino youth valiantly serving on the frontlines.

Image- TIME

Sources- New York Times, Guardian UK, MSNBC, Reuters, SR.com, latinamericanstudies.org

Jane’s: The future of U.S. bases in L. America

Military publication Jane’s analyzed the situation of the U.S. Air Base in Manta, Ecuador which will likely be vacated in 2009. In the article posted online yesterday, Air Force Southern commander Lt. General Norman Seip speculated on the future of U.S. military bases in the Americas:

Gen Seip said the USAF (U.S. Air Force) is unlikely to build another large base in the region like Manta because Latin American countries often view any US presence as an impingement on their sovereignty.

He added that in the future USAF activities in Latin America would centre on the establishment of small, temporary, forward operating locations. He also said the air force is planning to develop regional partnerships to ensure Latin American countries have the military assets they need to monitor ungoverned space, which can become havens for terrorism and drug trafficking.

Ecuador’s government has been reluctant to renew the U.S. military’s lease to run the Manta base and this has led to uncertainty over who will control the station. The U.S. has recently upped its military presence in Paraguay while the Peruvian government has denied permission to house a major U.S. base.

Image- Washington Post

Sources- Jane’s, The Latin Americanist, The Nation, Prensa Latina

Mexico: Army deserters aid drug gangs

According to the Mexican government, over 100,000 soldiers have deserted from Mexico’s armed forces over the past seven years and some of them have helped armed gangs.

During a legislative hearing, Sub-secretary of Defense Tomas Angeles Dahuajare admitted that gangs recruited soldiers, and blamed low salaries and a lack of benefits for the high number of desertions. However, he claimed that it is not a national security risk:

(Dahuajare) rejected that the military desertions, which included members of the Navy…impacted national security since most of them involve troop personnel. [ed. – personal translation]

Dahuajare’s remarks come on the heels of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency report stating that drug cartels based in northern Mexico have established bases of operation in Mexico City. Still, police captured a high-ranking drug smuggler on Monday and eleven hitmen yesterday.

Sources (English)- Associated Press, UPI

Sources (Spanish)- RCN, Milenio

Image- BBC News (1998 photo of Mexican army troops in Chiapas)

Daily Headlines: October 24, 2007

* Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa made an interesting offer to the U.S. government: let us open a military base in Miami and we’ll let you keep using your base in Manta, Ecuador.

* Happy slightly belated birthday to o Rei do futebol Pelé who celebrated 67 years of life yesterday.

* It was double duty for about sixty Mexican firefighters who volunteered to put out wildfires in California before returning home to tame growing forest fires.

* Are educational standards in Latin America too low? Columnist Andres Oppenheimer thinks so.

* Follow-up: Should we believe U.S. Ambassador to Colombia William Brownfield’s claim that U.S.-Colombia relations will be unharmed despite the close relationship between Alvaro Uribe and Hugo Chavez?

Sources (English)- Reuters UK, eluniversal.com, The Latin Americanist, Salt Lake Tribune, MarketWatch, International Herald Tribune

Source (Spanish)- El Diario/La Prensa

Image- El Universo

Daily Headlines: October 3, 2007

* Three Mexican soldiers were found guilty of rape in a landmark trial presided by a civilian court.

* Follow-up: New York governor Eliot Spitzer deemed Republican politicos as “out of touch with reality” in claiming that terrorists would be aided by his plan to provide driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants.

* Brazil’s president was stuck at home for a few hours yesterday as homeless activists surrounded his home in protest.

* Venezuelan opposition leader Manuel Rosales called on Hugo Chavez to intervene for “kidnapped Venezuelans” while Chavez serves as facilitator in Colombia’s armed conflict.

* Cuba’s telecommunications board claimed that the U.S. blockade cost them over $21 million in lost revenue between May 2006 and April 2007.

Sources (English)- The Latin Americanist, New York Daily News, Prensa Latina, Monsters & Critics, CNN

Sources (Spanish)- El Diario/La Prensa

Image- MSNBC

Spanish PM, royals attend funeral of nationalized soldier

Numerous Spanish dignitaries including King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia were present at a state funeral for two soldiers killed during an explosion in Afghanistan. One of the dead troops honored was 20-year-old Stanley Mera (image) who was originally from Ecuador, and held dual citizenship from that country and Spain.

Prime Minister, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero arrived just in time from the U.N. General Assembly meetings in New York. Most of Mera’s family from Ecuador did not have the same luck, however, as immigration issues delayed their arrival in Spain for the state funeral.

Despite the tragedy, Spanish Defense Minister José Antonio Alonso affirmed that the army will stay in Afghanistan in order to "bring security for reconstruction."

Troops of Latin American background make up 5% of Spain’s armed forces ever since the government started its campaign in 2003 to recruit legal immigrants for combat.

Sources (English)- AFP, Typically Spanish, Expatica Spain

Sources (Spanish)- El Diario/La Prensa, elmundo.es, ABC.es

Image- El Diario/La Prensa